Nikita Bobko
Anil DashOne amazing thing about 2025 is that, if you start up an Apple product, it forces you to choose between _three different_ window mangers, but if you start up a clean install of a current version of Linux, it just chooses good defaults for you.
Going T. Maine@anildash wild that you need freedom of window manager choice on an iPad/iOS
peter sibley@anildash is it finally the year of the linux desktop?
🏳️🌈🎃🇧🇷Luana🇧🇷🎃🏳️🌈@anildash And on the full screen apps they removed the very useful (and way better for touchscreen) slide over and split screen… really dumb
Ryan Hyde
Phie Lux 
@anildash The worst part is they removed the perfectly functional tiled window manager that they had and replaced it with an inferior alternative. The windowed apps work as a replacement, until you try to use swipe-from-edge gestures. But it's OK. Gestures were only a core selling point of touch screens.
Janne Moren@anildash
And translucent glass effects.
So *that's* where the Enlightenment developers all disappeared to!
🇺🇦 haxadecimal 🚫👑@anildash
After the holiday season is over, you won't have to choose a window manger again for almost a year.
:-)
After the holiday season is over, you won't have to choose a window manger again for almost a year.
:-)
Sharpe!@anildash i regret installing new os to my 2022 ipad. its utterly slow and horrible.. people here have cult like following to apple products shitting on microsoft (which they deserve) but then hyping shitty apple product piss me off.. its insane to me how people claim how superior apple is but my experience with its ipad os is nothing but frustration..
rex❗ (he/him) ♿🏴@Fakepivot
@anildash i feel the same and i'm sorry you wound up having that happen to you. D: i've got a 2022 ipad air and installing ipados 18 definitely made it work worse, even though it has a m1 chip. :| as a result, i refuse to update it to ipados 26. plus, liquid glass is an accessibility nightmare...
@anildash i feel the same and i'm sorry you wound up having that happen to you. D: i've got a 2022 ipad air and installing ipados 18 definitely made it work worse, even though it has a m1 chip. :| as a result, i refuse to update it to ipados 26. plus, liquid glass is an accessibility nightmare...
@industrial_cream @anildash i went to straight liquid glass update thinking its chip could handle it. but i was wrong lol
@Fakepivot @anildash ohhhh no. :(
Tomáš Znamenáček@anildash And I still mourn them using the checkbox checkmark for mutually exclusive radio buttons.
ozamidas@anildash last time i checked MacOs had the worst virtual desktop management of all modern desktops, maybe slightly better than W10. It's so bad that it made it look unnecessary and impractical. It's no wonder they have to offer 3 different interfaces to compensate for these design choices.
GNOME on the other hand has the best virtual desktop implementation, it's so good it makes it feel like a natural option.
The fact that GNU/Linux can beat MacOs is insane, 15 years ago it wouldn't happen.
Epiphanic Synchronicity@ozamidas @anildash Virtual desktop management on macOS is actually quite good if you learn the keybindings, which use the control (not command) key: Ctl-1 to 9 to jump directly to other desktops, ctl-left/right to go to adjacent desktops, ctl-up for an overview where you can add/remove/rearrange desktops and drag windows from your current desktop to others.
smxi@EpiphanicSynchronicity @ozamidas @anildash no gnome stayed that bad. I like free software operating systems because you find install then stay with the desktop and/or window manager you like. #xfce in my case, or #i3 / #sway.
Note that most free software window managers / desktops can be installed on the BSDs too so it's wrong to call these #linux when you are referring to the user interface. A few have hooks to systemd which ties them to the linux kernel, but most don't.
@EpiphanicSynchronicity @ozamidas @anildash yes re excellent #i3 docs. When I was extending #inxi window manager and desktop support I installed everything available, in some vms. i3 had by far the best docs of anything I tested. Best man page, best web docs, so I figured if their docs are this good their code must be as well. Sadly the same could not be said for #sway, the wayland i3 clone. Maybe that's gotten better by now. i3 docs also inspired me to upgrade inxi docs and public data.
@EpiphanicSynchronicity @anildash as far as i can tell GNOME has never done that. It only creates a new virtual desktop if you occupy the empty one. I think that's pretty neat.
In GNOME 49 apps always open with the size you've assigned so i think that one has been solved.
@EpiphanicSynchronicity @anildash interesting.
In GNOME if you press crtl+alt and the arrows you can move to the other desktops.
In theory it seems like a very practical option but in practice it loses to the super+tab combination which takes you automatically to the application. EIther way at leat MacOs can do that.
Furbland's Very Cool Mastodon™@anildash thank you for showing up on trending so i may now block you
Simon B@anildash by "a current version of Linux" you mean, one of the many distributions. With Linux you still make the choice, but it's made when you choose which distro to download.
adrinux
F4GRX Sébastien@anildash so full screen apps are made to multitask without ease.
Lê Fê@anildash @pluralistic I got a work computer last week, and was greeted by that stage thingy abomination. I very much dislike macos.
One amazing thing about 2025 is that, if you start up an Apple product, it forces you to choose between _three different_ window mangers, but if you start up a clean install of a current version of Linux, it just chooses good defaults for you.
Good defaults are relative with regards to desktops.
Most linux distributions give users a choice, from lumbering Memory Hog Gnome to Flashy memory hog KDE then on to more decent non distracting options like ICEWM LXde etc.
Vash@Vash @anildash
What I am really interested is, how you call Windows, if KDE and Gnome are memory hogs?
What I call windoze, 10 usable when forced, 11 buggy spyware crap :-)
Win 10 and 11 look like massive memory hogs due preemptive application loading,
Presently I am using about 904 M while writing this. CUPS and sane plus sound daemons running, plus conky and htop.
I prefer distraction free so generaly ICEWM is my choice.
I give some user support work so on other desktops fairly often.
AnimeAndVisial@anildash You mean the user already chose the default? There’s a bunch of desktop environments on the download page. If I download Fedora Gnome, I already chose the desktop environment. Therefore it’s not going to show me the option at setup.
Christian Kent 𝘊𝘒 :＼﹥@anildash I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're refering to as Linux, is in fact, Gnome on Redhat, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Gnome plus X.11 on Redhat on Linux. Linux is not a window manager unto itself … etc
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=I%27d+just+like+to+interject+for+a+moment
Urban Dictionary: I'd just like to interject for a moment
A classic copy-pasta often attributed to rms but contains parts that he denied being from him. It's best used whenever you see a debate over the correct format of Linux and GNU/Linux. I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to...
@anildash I dived into my university computing club's Discord chat last year and tried out that meme — which had plenty of mileage in the old email group chat days — and one of the kids explained it to one of the other kids — win!
Jack Wellborn@anildash I would hope this exists just for iPadOS 26 to make people aware of the new windowing system. My guess though is that it's sadly here to stay. In Apple's defense, the iPad is in a unique position, in that only some users even want a window manage while most really do want a big iPhone. The same cannot be said for Linux, Mac or Windows. I do wonder if Full Screen Apps should be the default, in that anyone who wants windows is probably savvy enough to go into settings.
@anildash In my mind, Stage Manager shouldn't be presented as something analogous to the other two. In my mind, Stage Manager is a basically an automatic window manager. The hierarchy of choices should be something like a checkbox for “use windows” that if checked, lets users select between “manage windows manually" and "Stage Manager”.
Harold Leewis@anildash I agree, but this is only for iPads,.. macOS also chooses good defaults, just like Linux.
Green ex Libris@anildash, Apple is going the wrong way and it might be just the right time for Linux DEs to take the torch...
btw, I really enjoyed that speech (https://youtu.be/1fZTOjd_bOQ) recently, a lot of similar thoughts there...
Are we stuck with the same Desktop UX forever? | Ubuntu Summit 25.10
paladintom@anildash Yeah having choice and flexibility sucks
Leonid (fuck USA 🖕🏻)@anildash and whatever you choose on iPadOS, it sucks.
Duke of Germany 💫
David Fleetwood - RG Admin@duke_of_germany @anildash I've been trying to move off of iOS for two years now and in that time their UI has only made me unhappier.